How to Draw Vegeta (from Dragon Ball Z)

Most Dragon Ball Z characters can be drawn using these basic shapes and proportions. Dragon Ball Z characters all have similarly constructed faces: they have large foreheads, slanted, triangular eyes, and small lower faces. Once you see how the basic face is proportioned, it should be easier to draw whichever character you like. Begin by drawing a large, slightly elongated circle for the forehead. Draw the lower half of the face and divide it up with lightly drawn guidelines as shown. Notice that the lower half of his face can be divided up into equal sections; the main horizontal guidelines are equidistant from each other. He has a very large head, yet a relatively small face, so the circle should be much larger than the lower half of the face. Draw the slanted guidelines for the eyes, and sketch the position of the mouth (which should be directly below the guideline for the nose). Make sure all the guidelines are drawn lightly, because you are going to erase them later on.

Draw the outline of the eyes, which are just blocky, angled trapezoids. Make sure the bottoms and tops of the eyes line up with the slanted guideline you drew in earlier. Draw the nose and mouth, making them very small and close together. The nose should be sort of like a curved, blocky 'L' or wedge. Draw the ears, as well; they should be pretty big. Note the marks on the sides of his head just above the eyes; these are part of his eyebrow ridge, which is rather prominent since he has such a high hairline. To draw these, just make the sides of the face curve out slightly at the point where the lower half of the face meets the circle.

Erase any unnecessary guidelines and sketch the outline of his hair. The hair is very large and spiky. He has a very high hairline, so make sure you don't draw the hair too low on the face. Add more detail to his eyes, and the shading under the mouth. When drawing his eyebrows, make sure that they rest directly above his eyes.

Next, erase all the guidelines. Add the shading under his eyes and add detail to his ears, and draw the neck. DBZ necks are usually pretty wide, so make sure the neck starts just beneath the ears. Make sure to add some lines above his eyebrows to further develop the eyebrow ridge. Erase any unwanted lines and clean up your sketch.

Take your final sketch and color or shade it however you like. Notice that the shading on his hair is very subtle (you can barely see it), but gives the otherwise flat spikes a little more dimension.

Next, we'll draw the 3/4 view. These proportions will work for other DBZ characters, too. Draw a large circle, then add the lower half of the face and divide the shapes up with guidelines. These are pretty much the same shapes as in the front view, except they have been rotated downwards and to the side. The 3/4 view has less guidelines than the front view, but that's only because adding them would be unneccesary at this angle. We'll only be using the guidelines for the eyes, nose, and the central guideline that runs from the forehead to the chin.

Next, use the upper horizontal guideline to draw in the eyes. Draw the nose and mouth, making sure to draw the mouth very close to the nose. The features of the face should have very sharp angles. Notice that while on the front view his nose looks small, on the 3/4 view it is much longer and pointed. Draw his ear, too, which should be very large.

Erase all the unnecessary guidelines. Draw the basic shape of his hair, making it very thick and pointy. Make sure you make his hairline very high. Add his pupils, eyebrows, and neck.

Erase all unnecessary lines. Add the detail in his ears, and draw in the eyebrow ridges above his eyes. Again, his neck muscles are very large, so start them just below the ear. Clean up your sketch and prepare it for the final draft.

Now that you have drawn his face, you can shade and color it however you like.

Vegeta, like several other characters on DBZ, can transform into a Super Saiyajin. To draw Vegeta (or anyone, for that matter) in Super Saiyajin form, you'll have to make a few adjustments to his face, as well as his hair. His head and body should be wider, while the face itself is smaller. The features are more slanted and grouped closer together. The lines of his face will be much more sharp and slanted, and his eyes will be much more narrow. These adjustments can be used on any Super Saiyajin. For the hair, basically just draw a series of sharply angled, pointed spikes that extrude from his scalp (make sure to draw his high hairline). It helps to draw the outline of his head, as shown in this picture, so you can tell where the hair should go. It's easy to make it too big or too small if you don't know where to position it. Even though it's spiky, make the hair full and rounded, rather than just using straight spikes. All the spikes should curve inward, not just stick straight.

Here's what the hair should look like when the guideline for the back of the head has been removed and the hair has been shaded. I did a sloppy job of coloring the hair, though; the shading should be much less rounded than it is in this particular picture. You can look at other pictures of him on the internet or elsewhere for further reference.